Midnight server time, I was at the Darkmoon Rabbit cave at 12:01. He was there.

A few folks had gathered around so I asked for an invite.

"Level 90s only" was the reply (I am currently level 87, close to 88).I obviously complained and voiced my concerns (never swore or got out of hand, but I did ask him if he had spent 8+ hours camping the DMR last month, if he set his alarm for 6:00 every morning to check the spawn and if he took a day off of work to camp the cave and what did one have to do to "earn" a spot on the team). I then asked in general chat if anyone wanted to form a raid group for the DMR and this other raid leader fellow said to join his raid because it had more people and then told me (in general chat) to shut up and stop being annoying.

The initial group of 6 level 90s immediately wiped. When they tried with about a dozen they got him to 98%. That rabbit is still a tough little bugger. I asked again at that point if they needed me now. No reply.

More people showed up and some of my level 90 guildies were invited. One of them invited me and I was immediately booted. Warsh, rinse, repeat three times. Invite/boot. After two more times where I at least said "Thanks!" in raid chat and was booted again (for a total of five boots, and at this point I was getting invites from non-guildies). There were level 87, 88s and 89s in the raid at this point, but the raid leader has said I was not allowed and removed invite powers for everyone else in the raid. From what I could glean, there folks in the raid who didn't understand why I wasn't allowed in and were stating my case for me.

Eventually the fight took place with a near full raid team and they finally got him down. It still takes quite a few minutes, even with max level players.

The saving grace of the evening is that the raid leader didn't win the roll and the winner immediately used the pet (so no AH for that one).

As a pet collector first and foremost (over 200 pre expansion) I've dealt with Blizzard enforced rules, drop rates, rep grinds and creature spawn times to do what I need to do in the pursuit of pets. Two months every evening to earn my Fox Kit. PVPing for my Murkimus the Gladiator, doling out money for the TCG pets before they were BOE. I've done what it takes within the BLizzard rules to earn my pets. But what bothers me is that now some random person can tell me what pets I can or can't at least have a chance for, based on their personal idea of who has "earned" a spot on the team.

Needless to say, it put a real damper on the evening. And I was really looking forward to Darkmoon Faires.

Unfortunately, the greatest challenge any player will ever face in this game remains the pigheadedness of other players.

I'm sorry to hear things ended as they did. For what it's worth, I would have been even less desirable to the raid leader than you. No MoP means I'm stuck at 85. Not that it should be a game-breaker for taking down Fluffy Doom: it was defeated regularly in September, after all. Next time ask your guildies and those pleading your case to start a separate raid group. A number of players leaving all at once for such a reason would make him look inept as a leader to those that remain, and probably get them to switch groups as well.

Last night, I joined an Alliance raid group to try and take on the Rabbit.The one problem? The Horde was fighting the Rabbit first, and doing a bad job of dying. They died, came back, repeat, slowly whittling the Rabbit down. And at some point, at least one or two of us managed to get flagged, go in there, flag the Horde, kill some Horde, etc.Finally, the Horde wiped on the Rabbit. We waited for it to reset, ready for our chance. But the Rabbit, still grey and tapped by the Horde, turned its baleful attention on us. People died, even as most of us retreated rather than fight the Rabbit under these circumstances. And it stayed in combat long enough for the Horde to come back, take over, and kill it.

I was not a happy camper. Thanks to a few short-sighted idiots on our team, we handed the Horde a Rabbit kill and swent home with nothing.

The saddest thing is how hard this pet will be for the true collectors to obtain without spending obscene amounts of gold. Why must I compete with so many people I don't know and can't trust, many of whom either want the pet only because it's epic or to sell it? Sigh.

I always say the worst thing about an MMO is the players. Also, the best thing. But mostly the worst thing.

I think it's hilarious to have a little bunny world boss. I've always been a Monty Python fan, what can I say. But I wish people would be lighthearted, laugh when things go wrong, make jokes, be fair to everyone, no yelling, no griefing, make it a fun time even if you don't get the rabbit. I wish it was a bunny party! But we all know that's not going to happen. People are going to be angry, annoyed and unfair.

Blizzard could put in particular raid group settings to address at least some of the issues. The raid leader wouldn't have as much power. They can't assign loot. Kicks need to be by vote. These rules could be exclusive to Darkmoon Island, whether the group was initially formed there or not. Or maybe you should have special rules any time a raid is not a guild group (of course guilds will always have their own rules). I don't know enough about raids to know what would be appropriate in other settings, but I have endured a bunny raid.

Of course it's impossible to completely stop griefing, no matter what rules you put in place. But at least no one could steal the bunny. Now if there was just a way to force people to be pleasant..

Fluffy Doom goes after anyone within range of its attacks. Not even observers that have taken no action, that simply stand and watch the fight, are safe; I watched a Horde attempt last month, and I imagine quite a few of them started swearing like sailors every time the Rabbit latched onto the nose of my mount and I went galloping uncontrollably into the surf.

Snowyjoe wrote:I'm hoping the popularity of the Darkmoon Rabbit will die down, and most none pet collectors will realize that it's not worth the time or effort to get it.

Then we'll just have the people that really want the pet forming raids.... maybe?

The problem then will become getting a group large enough to take it down. The Darkmoon Fair is not Cross-Realm, which means you only have the resources and population of you specific server to draw from. As a result, once popularity dies down this pet may essentially become inaccessible to many. Considering most are only willing to fight it right now for the Achievement, and once the Achievement is earned they will lose all interest in Fluffy Doom ... there are likely going to be many dedicated collectors that will never obtain this pet.

At this point I'm considering removing this pet from my "wanted" list. It's just not worth the anxiety and headache.

Honestly, I'm not pleased with how this pet was implemented in the slightest. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the nod to Monty Python and the fight itself is also amusing. But the design of how the fight needs to be approached has me shaking my head.

I would have much preferred a very lengthy and obscure quest chain that ultimately leads up to fighting the Darkmoon Rabbit. Think of how many Monty Python references could be included in a chain! Ultimately, each person would then have their own rabbit reward. Obviously if it were a quest reward (no matter how long or difficult the chain) it wouldn't be as rare it is now, but personally I wouldn't mind.

I am so sorry that you got treated that way,its a shame that people take the hostile approach when warcraft could be so much more fun.Its that reason I hardly do dungeons,I had some bad experiences from other players.

On the second attempt at the DMF Rabbit on the first fair the little fluffy so and so was avaliable my husband won it and gave it to me.Made me so happy and i'm so glad at not having this heartache.

This does give me a slightly different look towards the situation as I now personaly have no interest in the rabbit now whatso ever.( there is no way I'm going to that cave for my husband,sorry but no..)

I feel the best aproach would make it avaliable for EVERYONE who was in the raid group, now 40 people have a oppotunity of getting it. 85's wont be excluded because the raid wont have to roll and see a lower level char win it.At the same time the price will drop for the AH.Blizzard could then easily have it spawn one or two times at random times in the week. (not at the start ).

This will solve alot of problems but due to the monthly fair and the 1-2 spawnings it will still be a rare pet.

I imagine the Holy Hand Grenade's inclusion in the game files is an indicator of a possible quest chain in the future. The grenade could easily be provided as the reward, and allow a single player to take out Fluffy Doom at his or her leisure.

The latest bunny drop on our server, was ninja'd by a loot change during the fight, he took it, and threw it on AH for 100k. Which, nobody is going to buy because of the hundreds of reports the guy probably recieved for ninjaing the loot. =\ Not to mention, he has destroyed his reputation on the server.

Diva wrote:The latest bunny drop on our server, was ninja'd by a loot change during the fight, he took it, and threw it on AH for 100k. Which, nobody is going to buy because of the hundreds of reports the guy probably recieved for ninjaing the loot. =\ Not to mention, he has destroyed his reputation on the server.

Unfortunately, ninja looting is not a prohibited behavior and Blizzard is unlikely to take action as a result of the player reports because of this.

Equally unfortunate, ninja looters rarely garner the notoriety that one might expect them to, unless they are blatant repeat offenders. As a result this player's actions will likely go unrecognized outside of your raid and your immediate play groups. Most have probably forgotten his name already. His reputation is likely safe and he is just as likely to find a buyer for the Rabbit as anyone else. That's simply the way of things.

Unfortunatly I was also denied a shot at the darkmoon rabbit yesterday after camping him all day. This raid group invited only thier friends -_-. And it really ticks me off because I also was a pet collector pre-expansion and now everyone and their mother wants pets when they didnt care before :\

Emi wrote:Unfortunatly I was also denied a shot at the darkmoon rabbit yesterday after camping him all day. This raid group invited only thier friends -_-.

This I see as acceptable. If you can go after Fluffy Doom with a group comprised of only your friends, then by all means you should. You do this for the same reason you run Dungeons and Raids in guild groups rather than PuGs; you limit the opportunity for grieffers, ninjas, and/or other undesirables to disrupt your attempt and game play. There's nothing wrong with what you experienced.

If you must be angry, then be angry at Blizzard. They're the ones that added the Rabbit as Raid content, by definition an organized group activity. The competitive resentment you voice is the last thing the now-growing companion pet community needs.

Briqitta wrote:Later, I saw the person who won it had put it on the AH for 450k. A LOT of people were pissed at that and yelling at him in Trade chat.

I see nothing inherently wrong with this, either. Especially for a PuG. If the player won the Rabbit legitimately, it is his to do with as he pleases. He should not be criticized for what he chooses to do with his loot.

People gather companion pets for any number of reasons. For some, the market is the primary draw; companion pets have been a valuable commodity since Vanilla. Putting the Darkmoon Rabbit on the AH rather than using it yourself is no different than what Whelpling farmers have been doing for years. Companion pets are a minigame, and have even been formally defined as such by Blizzard. Traditional Need/Greed mechanics don't apply unless everyone is seeking the pet for the same reason. It's just one more augment that supports the idea of approaching this encounter as part of a guild group that knows you are a collector and has agreed that non-collectors will not seek the pet.

Diva wrote:The latest bunny drop on our server, was ninja'd by a loot change during the fight, he took it, and threw it on AH for 100k. Which, nobody is going to buy because of the hundreds of reports the guy probably recieved for ninjaing the loot. =\ Not to mention, he has destroyed his reputation on the server.

Unfortunately, ninja looting is not a prohibited behavior and Blizzard is unlikely to take action as a result of the player reports because of this.

Equally unfortunate, ninja looters rarely garner the notoriety that one might expect them to, unless they are blatant repeat offenders. As a result this player's actions will likely go unrecognized outside of your raid and your immediate play groups. Most have probably forgotten his name already. His reputation is likely safe and he is just as likely to find a buyer for the Rabbit as anyone else. That's simply the way of things.

Just wanted to point out times when Blizzard will step in. Before the first pull, mention the loot rules up front. If you can show that the person acted counter to the agreed-upon rules, then Blizzard will step in. (Make sure the rules are written out in /say or /raid as Blizzard can hardly check voice chat logs.)